Inside the conference room, everyone except Gabriella was already there. She knocked on the door and entered upon hearing approval from Arthur. She always found it surprising how the military had built such extravagant safe houses on such short notice. Sure they weren't luxurious by any means, but they had a lot of space and conference rooms for crying out loud. 

"Finally decided to show?" Arthur asked. 

"Forgive me, chief" Gabriella replied "I got caught up" 

She didn't really mean the apology, but it was better than upsetting her superior. 

"Why did you summon us?" Liam inquired, impatient. 

"To start us off, I'd like to say you're all doing great," Arthur said, cheerfully "In the last week, our team alone has saved over 200 civilians. Compared to the number of the undead, that number might look small, but we're only getting started" 

Everyone's face immediately lit up with a smile, it wasn't every day Arthur appreciated their work. 

"That can't be the only reason we're here," Janelle said, unconvinced.

"It's not," Arthur said. "Tomorrow, not all of you will be rescuing civilians"

"Why not?" 

"Two of you will join another team and go do the saving, I need the others here with me," Arthur said, his stern tone again. 

"What do you need the others for?" Gabriella questioned. 

"I will reveal that once it's decided who is to stay back," He said. 

Arthur wasn't known for revealing anything confidential. If he wanted people to stay back, Gabriella knew it was something important. She remembered her promise to Caden before coming here and knew this would be the perfect opportunity to snoop around and get his weapons back. More than that, she'd always wanted to know what other things the superiors worked on. 

"I can stay back" She offered. 

"Thank you for the suggestion, Ms Marshall, but the higher-ups will decide who is to do what," Arthur said "You will receive further information regarding this tomorrow morning"

Using some quick math, Gabriella knew there was approximately a 70% chance she would get to stay back, but with her luck, she knew she mostly wouldn't get to.

"Don't let this discourage you, there'll be other opportunities," She told herself. 

"You are all dismissed," Arthur said.

»»————-　☠　————-««

All night, Renee wondered what the next day would be like. She was so used to being by herself around nature, then slowly got used to having Caden around. And now, she had to get used to this new change. It wasn't as though she was allergic to people, she just liked having some time to herself which she would no longer get. 

"Psst" She heard someone say. Her head jolted up in curiosity and turned around to see Caden waving to her. 

"What is it?" She tried to say softly, so as to not wake the others.

"I can't sleep," He said. 

"Seriously?" She asked in annoyance. 

"Did I disturb your sleep?" He questioned. 

"No" 

"Then it's all good" Caden replied with a grin. Renee sighed and tip-toed to his mattress while Caden sat up. 

"Did you want to say something?" Renee asked. 

"Actually, yeah," He said before clearing his throat "Now that we're not looking behind our backs for 'the undead' every second, I had some time to think"

"About what?" 

"About how the virus started" He revealed "I just find it hard to imagine that such a big virus breaks out in such a short span of time. There should've been some sort of warning"

"Maybe we just missed the signs," Renee said "It's not like the government revealed anything to us until the outbreak started" 

"Yeah, I remember the protests that day," He said. "It's funny how so much changed so quickly"

"'Funny' isn't the word I'd use, but you're right," She said. "No one was prepared for this" 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, only a week had passed. But it felt like a whole year. Death, blood, violence and hiding had all become part of their daily life. Maybe things would be better now that they were in the safe house, but Caden was still worrying about the others who were still out there. 

"Do you think there'll ever be a cure for this?" Caden asked. 

"Do you think the cure will make any difference?" Renee asked. 

"Why would you say that?" Caden asked, a little taken aback. 

"It's the beginning of a pandemic, and right now everyone's main focus is saving people, killing the 'undead' in the process. Hypothetically, say someone creates some cure, most of the 'undead' population might already be dead. There will be very few left to save" Renee explained.

"Well, I suppose you're right. But if the undead population decreases, the pandemic will die down in a few days on its own, shouldn't it? Or even otherwise, if the military keeps rescuing them in different safe houses, the undead will die of starvation" Caden said, trying to find some light in the darkness of the situation.

"We don't know how long they can survive without flesh and whether it's only human flesh they require. If not, they could even survive eating rodents for a bit. And people who are waiting for military help need to know how to survive the undead, otherwise, they'll just die before they can find help. There's just too much that can go wrong" Renee countered. 

"I know, I'm just trying to stay optimistic," He said, disappointed. 

"On the bright side, we're safe. And every day there are new people who get saved. We don't know anything the government is doing, but I'm sure they're working on something, maybe a safe boundary which separates our world from the undead" Renee suggested. 

"I guess. Or maybe I'm overthinking it, it's not as if anyone's going to care about my opinion" Caden said "I suppose I should just let fate do its thing" 

Renee looked at the clock placed in the left corner of the room and squinted her eyes to be able to see what it displayed.

"We should get to bed, I have a long day in front of me," She said between yawns. 

"Long day doing what?" Caden chuckled "You'll just be sitting around all day" 

Renee rolled her eyes before replying to his comment. 

"You actually thought we'd be lazing around all day? I had my suspicions which were confirmed by the others. We'll be given tasks throughout the day to keep the safe house running" She explained, feeling proud of herself for knowing that. 

"Oh" Was all Caden could reply. He wasn't really worried about working, but rather what 'work' actually meant. Fighting the undead? Hopefully not. 

"I should really ask Gabriella for more information about this place" Caden muttered to himself. 

"Goodnight," Renee said and crawled back to her mattress. 

Caden closed his eyes and tried to push the mountain of thoughts that were flooding his mind away. He knew all too well he had no control over anything that was happening, all he could do was hope it got better. 

»»————-　☠　————-««

Gabriella woke up that day with hopes of being noticed. She'd been working for the military for almost three years, yet always felt she was never seen as higher than her juniors. 

She took a quick shower and tied her hair into a neat ponytail, she didn't want to delay herself by braiding her hair once again. 

She walked up to the conference room, only spending half a minute chatting with Caden. She knocked on the door and entered to find herself the first person to have arrived - after Arthur. 

"Good morning, chief," She said as politely as she could, instantly realizing how fake she sounded. Arthur simply gestured for her to take a seat while he seemed to be sorting out some papers. 

Gabriella started drumming her nails on the table, her impatience getting worse by the second. 

"For god's sake, it's only been a minute," Arthur said in frustration. Feeling embarrassed, she immediately stopped and wondered if her behaviour was why she was always thought so lowly of.

Before she could let her thoughts eat her head, Janelle walked in with one of the juniors and not long after they all showed up. 

"Good, now that we're all here, I will explain today's itinerary. As mentioned yesterday, two of you will join another team and help with the rescuing while the others stay with me" He stated, his voice booming in the room. "I have received the list and everyone except Liam and Rachel will stay back" 

Liam and Rachel nodded and exited the room, masking their disappointment with stoicism. Gabriella on the other hand, was filled with excitement and the pride of finally being recognized but covered it up with a professional look.

Author's note: Hey guys! How're you enjoying the book so far? If you have any criticisms, please leave them in the comments. And make sure to vote and add this book to your library so you don't miss out on any updates! See you next time :D